1. Fields of the Invention
The present invention relates to a barrel type ratchet wrench with a snap-in structure, and more particularly to the snap-in structure capable of latching an external socket with an external adapter to prevent them from falling out unexpectedly or affecting the normal smooth operation of the wrench.
2. Description of the Related Art
The ratchet wrench refers to a professional wrench having a ratchet direction controlling mechanism for controlling the driving direction to apply a force, and barrel type ratchet wrench refers to a wrench having a ratchet acting head designed as a hollow barrel provided for plugging a component module such as an external socket or an external adapter (similar to the component module as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7) and controlling the rotation direction of a screw (not shown in the figure).
Although the conventional barrel type ratchet wrench has been used for years and common to users, yet the connection between the external socket and the external adapter with the hollow barrel is simply by abutting a top bead (installed on a side of the external socket and the external adapter) or latching a ring (installed at an inner periphery of the hollow barrel), so that the two produce a combining strength of a certain level and will not be separated easily. As we all know, the wrench probably hits a surrounding object or the operator moves too much in the process of applying a force for the operation of the wrench, so that the external socket and the external adapter may be separated from the hollow barrel easily, and the operation or construction may be affected adversely, or the external socket and external adapter may even be lost or missing, and thus resulting gin an unexpected difficult situation. Obviously, the conventional design requires further improvements.